Editorial
Takanohana's election as sumo association board member brings hope of reform
Sumo stablemasters appear to have chosen to bring about change to the Japan Sumo Association by electing former Yokozuna Takanohana as a member of the board.
Takanohana, now a stablemaster, who has broken away from Nishonoseki, the largest faction within the association, with six other stablemasters, won the association's board election on Monday by garnering 10 votes.
It had been a customary practice that candidates from five factions are selected in advance in proportion to the number of their voters through prior negotiations so that they are elected without a vote. However, Monday's election was the first in four terms, or eight years, in which voting was held. This is because Takanohana filed his candidacy without support from any faction, as a result of which 11 candidates vied for the sumo association's board's 10 seats. It should be lauded as a major step forward that Takanohana and others changed the status quo of the rigidly controlled organization through the election.
Since sumo factions had traditionally maintained their solidarity, Takanohana's chance of winning the election had been viewed as slim because he formed only a seven-member group after quitting the Nishonoseki faction. However, he ended up being elected after gaining three more votes from outside his group on top of those from his own group.
A series of scandals has surfaced over the past several years during which the association's board had been elected without a vote. In June 2007, a 17-year-old wrestler belonging to the Tokitsukaze stable died after being assaulted by senior wrestlers during training at the instruction of the then stablemaster. Mongolian Yokozuna Asashoryu has been implicated in a series of scandals, while a number of wrestlers were dismissed for using marijuana.
Whenever these scandals surfaced, the Japan Sumo Association, which was supposed to have exercised leadership in solving the problems, placed the blame on others, thereby betraying sumo fans' trust. Japan Sumo Association Chairman Musashigawa, who assumed the post after his predecessor Kitanoumi resigned to take responsibility over the marijuana scandal, embarked on reform of the organization by appointing outsiders to its board, which had been an outstanding issue for the association for years. However, the move fell far short of carrying out fundamental reform.
Stablemaster Takanohana placed himself on the fast track to promotion and came to be called a hopeful candidate for association chairman when he was appointed to a high-ranking post in the association two years ago when he was 35 years old. The resolution to reform the association he showed to his colleagues by leaving the largest faction and running in the election as an independent candidate appears to have won sympathy from many stablemasters, enabling him to win a seat on the board.
However, since being elected to the board, Takanohana has failed to show a clear vision on how he intends to reform the association. Unless he announces specific measures to change the association at an early date, sumo fans' expectations for his resolution could turn into disappointment.
When Takanohana was a wrestler, sumo enjoyed unprecedented popularity. Seats at sumo tournament venues were sold out for 666 consecutive days. However, nowadays even seats at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, the home of sumo, are seldom booked up during tournaments, and the seat-occupancy rate for tournaments held in other areas remains low.
As the birthrate keeps declining, the number of apprentices at sumo stables has been decreasing, and many top-ranking wrestlers are foreigners. Sumo's traditions have been shaken. It is an urgent task to reform a sumo association plagued by numerous problems.
It would be too tough to expect the youngest member of the association's board to shoulder the heavy burden to reform the organization. The new board headed by Musashigawa, which has welcomed Takanohana as a new member, is urged to humbly listen to fans' opinions and steadily carry out reform of the sumo world.
(Mainichi Japan) February 2, 2010